1971-1988: THE EARLY YEARS
"When teachers asked us in class what we wanted to be, the other kids would say the obvious things like train driver, or fireman. I always said I wanted to be a professional footballer"
I was born in September 1971 in Helsingborg, a small football-mad Swedish city. My father, who came from the Cape Verde Islands off the West African coast, loved the game as well, and apparently as soon as I started to walk I had a football at my feet. He gave me my first ball when I was 16 months and I learned to dribble with, and without, the ball!
Football dominated our playtime. There was a really nice grassy field down the bottom of our garden, and all the kids in the neighbourhood used to kick about there. We had big games, and I'd play with my brothers Kim, who's now 31, and Robert, who's 26. I loved swimming as well, and in the winter I skated on the frozen ponds. Ice hockey is big in the area but I just wanted to play football.
We'd watch the top English matches on TV on Saturday afternoons, especially Liverpool and Spurs who had some great players at the time. I watched people like Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, Terry MacDermott, at Liverpool, and Ossie Ardiles at Spurs, and just wanted to be like them. My parents also gave me a video of Pele's life story, and I watched it again and again. When teachers asked us in class what we wanted to be, the other kids would say the obvious things like train driver, or fireman. I always said I wanted to be a professional footballer. I think they thought I was just a dreamer. Perhaps I was.
I was a small child, and had a bit of hard time at school, but I think being good at sport helped. I wasn't that interested in school, I was always in a rush, and ran everywhere. At that age you don't realise the hard work involved in becoming a footballer. There are so many talented footballers out there you have to be dedicated, but also lucky. Being in the right place at the right time is very important.
I joined my first proper team, Hogaborg BK in Helsingborg, when I was six. For years I was convinced I'd make it as a pro, but then when I got to around 12 I seemed to stop growing and all the other boys were getting bigger. I was still quite quick, but it was getting easier for the big lads to knock me about. I spent the following season,when I was 13, completely on the bench, and a lot of the enthusiasm I had went. It wasn't just that I stopped wanting to be a footballer, I just stopped trying so hard. But one coach, Bent Person, who unfortunately died recently, took me aside. He believed I had a real talent and he told me that I was still young and would grow soon. He also said that talent isn't always enough, sometimes you have to work hard as well. It's advice I've taken with me everywhere.
When I was 15, I was asked to train with the seniors during the summer, and the following year they moved me up to the senior team. I played my first full game for them at 17 in the Swedish Third Division. I loved it. I was doing loads of other jobs, packing fruit and vegetables in a warehouse, and supervising kids in a youth centre next to a school.
